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Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
2
Mary MacKillop College Beginning of Year Mass and
2016 Year 12 Merit Awards’ Ceremony
Thursday 9 February 2017
St Ignatius Church Norwood
9:15am Mass
10:00am Awards Ceremony
Running Sheet for Professor David Lloyd
• Mass – concludes with the College anthem.
• The Awards ceremony is introduced by Ms Helen Steele.
o Merit certificates presented by College staff. (13 certificates, 10 students)
o Above 90% ATAR presented by College Principal, Kath McGuigan. (18 students)
o Kath McGuigan introduces Professor David Lloyd.
▪ At the appropriate time, Helen Steele will direct Professor David Lloyd to the
Sanctuary for the presentation to Proxime Accessit, Julia Iannace and College Dux,
Kristie Goudas.
o Professor David Lloyd presents the certificates and plaque to the Proxime Accessit and then
the Dux.
▪ Photos
• Professor David Lloyd and Proxime Accessit.
• Professor David Lloyd and Dux.
• Professor David Lloyd with both Dux and Proxime Accessit.
▪ Professor David Lloyd returns to his seat.
o Mrs McGuigan invites Kristie (Dux) to address the College.
o Kristie speaks.
o Ms Helen Steele acknowledges Kristie and invites Professor David Lloyd to address the school
community.
o Professor David Lloyd presents at the lectern and returns to his seat at completion of speech.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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o College Captains offer a vote of thanks to Professor David Lloyd.
o Ms Steele concludes the assembly.
• Special and invited guests return to the College for Morning Tea.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• Ngangkirna, Miyurna! Naa marni Ngai nari David
• Ngai yarta-nungku yaku, ngai kunturrkinthi taakanthi
ngaityu wardli
• Ngai pudlunthi naa-itya, ngai wangkanthi warra Kaurna
meyurna, miipudlunthi ngaityu kuinyuntapinthi
• What I just said, for those of you who have yet to come
across Irish-accented Kaurna, is that my name is David
and while I am not originally from this country, I am
proud to call it my home and I do so in the language of
the Kaurna people as a mark of my respect.
• We meet this morning on Kaurna land.
• The Kaurna people have performed ceremonies on this
land for many centuries, and we pay respect to their
living culture and the unique role they continue to play
in the Adelaide region.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• Good morning.
• I want to have a serious talk with you about your future.
• - I bet you hear that a lot -
• And a great place to start is with my Kaurna welcome.
• It is a great example of what education and opportunity
offers you.
• I grew up, much like you are doing, but on the other side
of the world.
• When I had my serious talk to my parents about my
future, my life was straightforward.
• I would go to university – I was the first in my family to
make that decision – and the choice I had to make was
between Trinity College and Dublin City University.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• My father said Trinity College because it is a good
university, a nurturer of scientists, writers and Nobel
Laureates;
• My mother’s choice was Dublin City University, not for a
competing list of Laureates, but because it was within
walking distance of my home and I could save money on
transport and lunch.
• I wanted to be a scientist because I was a Star Trek
fanatic and loved science and science fiction,
• and yes, I did almost blow up my parents’ house with a
chemistry experiment, but it wasn’t too badly damaged.
• Because I was the first in my family to go to university, it
was expected that any degree I chose would lead to a
decent job.
• So I chose my university not for the courses it offered
but for the lunch money I’d save.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• I chose Dublin City University and decided that I would
live my days as a researcher and maybe become
something of an expert on computer-aided drug design.
• How did I end up here, on the other side of the world,
leading a major university with 34,000 students and
3000 staff?
• And speaking – in admittedly just a tiny bit of Kaurna –
to a group of high school girls, their parents and their
teachers?
• How did I get here? I took opportunities whenever they
were offered,
• and I hope you learn to do the same.
• Now I tell you all this because I know many of you will
be in the process of planning potential careers and
choosing the universities you’ll attend to bring those
careers to reality.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• Now I know some of you younger members of the
audience are still thinking about what to do with your
post school years,
• so I want to speak directly to those who are actively
planning career paths and researching the right way to
take the first steps onto those paths.
• I, who hardly ever give advice, would like to offer you
some. Just this once.
• Choose a career path and a university degree that
interests you.
• Choose a university degree that feels right, not one that
you feel obliged to study because you did well in your
exams.
• You’ve met this morning the 18 girls who achieved
ATARs of 90% or more in last year’s exams.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• I congratulate you again. Those ATARs are impressive,
but only if what you do with them makes you happy.
• I urge all of you to work hard, get good ATARs and use
them to get an education and a career you can be
passionate about.
• Don’t use them to ‘buy’ into a career just because you
can afford it on points.
• I talk to students all the time and it’s heartbreaking to
talk to those who have spent to their ATAR limit to study
something they’re not that keen on.
• And if you’re saddling yourself with debt so that you can
study for a degree to which you’re not suited, then that
is a tragic waste of your time, your money, perhaps even
your future happiness.
• Choose the degree that feels right and go into a career
that you’ll not only love but will reward your spirit as it
begins to reward your bank balance.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• If you have the ability, the interest and the ATAR to
enter medical school, by all means do that.
• But first make sure you have the interest and the
passion to be a great doctor.
• You may have the ability, and a high ATAR, but both
those ingredients do not make a recipe for future
success.
• Those ingredients – and what you want – are key
considerations.
• If you want to do social work, be a brilliant social worker
and change those many lives that you will touch during
your careers.
• Be a brilliant teacher
• – and might I add we’re building the ultimate teaching
academy at our Magill campus so you should study
teaching with us –
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• But be a brilliant teacher and be an inspiration for the
young women who will sit in these chairs in later years.
• Now this morning, as you sit on the edge of your
possibilities, I would like you to think about the people
you are now and the people you hope to become.
• Mary MacKillop College has prepared you well with an
education in the fine tradition of the Josephites,
• who, I’m told, produce skilful and knowledgeable young
women who are open to challenging opportunities, and
a sense of service and spirituality inspired by that
Josephite tradition.
• Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop as you know, was
often quoted as saying:
• Never see a need without doing something about it
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• And I’m confident that you will all continue that service
to the community.
• You won’t have to look far to find the need:
• Around the world 72 million children of primary school
age are not in school;
• 759 million adults are illiterate – two-thirds of them
women – without any hope of improving their living
conditions.
• there are still 3 billion people in the world living on less
than $2.50 per day;
• more than 1.3 billion live on less than $1.25 per day -
that's extreme poverty.
• But that’s a problem that can be solved.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• The United Nations estimates that it would only take
about $58 billion annually to offer basic education, clean
water and sanitation, reproductive health, and basic
health and nutrition to every person in every developing
country.
• A small amount of money when you consider the US
Defence Budget runs at around $750 billion a year.
• But besides money what's also needed is for people like
you to want to change and challenge our status quo,
• and to be part of the new thinking that will give us new
ways to make change happen.
• Demographers tell us that Generation Z – people born
between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, which
would cover a good many of you I think – are creative
and digitally-minded.
• While nearly half of you are connected to electronic
devices of one kind or another for over 10 hours a day -
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• and I hope you’ve put away your screens for this
morning’s little talk –
• You are looking to develop a lifelong love of learning
and are hoping to change the world.
• I can’t think of a more exciting future.
• But let’s talk a little about the world you’re about to
enter,
• the world of contributing your own skills to the
economy in whatever guise you choose.
• You will have heard many bleak predictions about the
lack of opportunity for young people as our economy
goes through another life cycle.
• I’m here to tell you that those predictions are vastly
overblown.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• Yes, the economy is changing but it is changing in ways
that offer you more exciting opportunities to be the best
you you could possibly imagine.
• Yes, smart machines are automating a lot of tasks and
eliminating lots of jobs,
• but I doubt that these jobs would interest you anyway.
• Looking around this room, I can’t see anyone who has
her heart set upon being a manual labourer or a process
worker,
• and as these jobs disappear, the smart machines that
replace them are actually freeing people like you to be
the future problem solvers, the entrepreneurs, the
creative thinkers and the social intelligence experts in
tomorrow’s knowledge economy.
• Change has always been part of our economic growth.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• Historians among you will remember reading about the
Luddites and their attempt to hold onto old weaving
practices.
• And while we may be seeing the manufacturing industry
suffer the effects of the global marketplace, look back at
what happened to agriculture and to the sheeps’ back
all Australians were supposed to be riding upon.
• Agriculture’s share of the Australian economy has gone
from around 25% in the first half of the 20th century,
• to between 4-6% today.
• The restructuring of the agricultural economy left a
number of traditional farm jobs in its wake, but created
huge numbers of different opportunities.
• Today, Australia’s 135,000 farmers produce enough
food to feed 80 million people.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• Not only do they provide 93% of the domestic food
supply, but they support an export market valued at
more than A$41 billion per annum – that’s over 13% of
export revenue.
• So I would suggest that you stand on the cusp of a
brilliant new future where the drudgery of work – and
believe me, there is still enough drudgery to go around –
will virtually disappear, leaving you to change the world.
• I can’t think of a happier future.
• The challenge you face is to find new creative solutions
for the world’s problems as that world changes rapidly.
• Here are some statistics to give you something to think
about:
• The world’s most populous nations are, in descending
order:
o China with 1.3 billion people;
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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o India with 1.2 billion people;
o Facebook with a population of 800 million;
o Skype with 521 million;
o Twitter with 380 million; and
o The United States with 312 million.
• With those figures in mind, think also of this:
• The majority of the world’s citizens have not yet started
using the internet;
• BUT from 2000 to 2015 the numbers using the net went
from 6% of the world’s population, to 43%.
• From 400 million people to 3.2 billion in the space of 15
years.
• And you, part of the digital native population, have a
head start on the opportunities that increased use of
technology will provide.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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o Big data analysis is one. Those of you with scientific
or mathematical talents can learn to analyse the
available data to help people make better decisions
or lead to the creation of new goods and services
which industry – and the economy – needs.
o Customer experience experts will use their skills in
psychology, marketing design and understanding to
find out what customers, and society in general,
actually wants.
Supermarkets, shopping malls, banks and hospitals
will need a workforce of creative, imaginative and
perceptive customer experience experts to change
the way they do business.
o Personalised preventative health helpers will make
use of information technology to provide
personalised support that helps their clients avoid
chronic and diet-related illness and achieve
improved lifestyles.
o Even the traditional labour intensive occupations of
nursing and aged care will require familiarity with
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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computers and the ability to operate complex
machines, while those with trades will have to
understand and be able to connect multiple devices
and smart systems of future homes.
• But before you start you need to open your minds to
ideas and opportunity and to find new ways of thinking.
• The great Irish poet – and they were all great let’s face it
– WB Yeats said that education is not simply the filling of
a vessel, it is the lighting of a fire.
• I ask that you keep that flame burning and soak up as
much learning as you can, now and for the rest of your
lives.
• For those of you who now move to university education
– and I look forward to seeing some of you on one of
our campuses - look for that education to instil in you a
passion for lifelong learning.
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o The capacity for critical thinking;
o The creativity for complex problem solving; and
o The awareness to develop a truly global
perspective.
• Take the opportunities that come your way and open
your minds and your hearts to difference, to challenges
and to the unfamiliar.
• Challenge your own worldview by accepting that others
also have legitimate claims to different ideas and
ideologies.
• And who knows where you can end up, professionally,
intellectually and geographically.
• It was Abraham Lincoln who said: The best way to
predict your future is to create it.
• Be good people. Be real. Take responsibility. Be bold and
courageous and embrace change.
Vice Chancellor’s presentation to Mary MacKillop College
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• The rest will take care of itself.
• It has been an honour for me to have been invited to
speak with you this morning.
• I wish you all the success in the world as you embark
upon you intellectual and personal adventures.
• I wish you a future filled with challenge, change and
creativity
• And all the happiness and value those qualities bring.
• Thank you.